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Typhoon Pedring leaves 8 dead in Luzon — officials


Eight people, including five children, were killed after Typhoon Pedring (international name: Nesat) battered northern Luzon with its strong winds and rainfall, officials said Tuesday. National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director Benito Ramos confirmed in a television interview that three children and their grandmother were killed after a wall collapsed over their house in Valenzuela City. A one-year-old child meanwhile drowned in floodwaters after she fell into a creek in Bato town in Catanduanes, he added. Two other individuals were confirmed dead after they were separately hit by falling trees in Castillejos town in Zambales and Candaba town in Pampanga, according to Ramos. For his part, National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said a 19-year-old resident of Olongapo City in Zambales was killed while another person was hurt in a landlside at the height of Pedring's rampage. In a text message sent to reporters, Cruz identified the fatality as Brian Anthony Sumanga. An initial investigation showed that the landslide happened about 10:45 a.m. and hit a house along Upper Otero Avenue in Barangay Mabayuan in Olongapo City. Hurt in the incident was 69-year-old Pacita Sumanga-dela Cruz. She is undergoing treatment at the James Gordon Hospital as of posting time. Missing fishermen Meanwhile, Ramos said four fishermen from Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur remain missing as of posting time. Ramos added that the 59 fishermen earlier reported missing in Pangasinan were found at the Scarborough Shoal off the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). In its 11 a.m. bulletin, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical & Astronomical ServicesAdministration (PAGASA) reported that “Pedring" had slightly weakened after making landfall over the boundary of Aurora and Isabela provinces at dawn Tuesday. The typhoon packs maximum strong winds of 120 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 150 kilometers per hour. It is moving west northwest at 19 kilometers and is expected to leave the country by Wednesday afternoon. — RSJ, GMA News

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